In an unusual move that set off waves across Jewish communities in the United States, the Williamsburg Satmar Grand Rebbe, Rabbi Zalman Leib Teitelbaum, strongly condemned haredi elements who are leading a campaign against New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and rejected attempts to classify him as an antisemite.
Rabbi Teitelbaum warned that such rhetoric conflicts with what he called Torah principles governing Jewish life in exile and could provoke hostility toward Jews.
The remarks came during the Grand Rebbe’s annual address commemorating the death of Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum, the founding Satmar Grand Rebbe, in one of the community’s largest yearly gatherings.
“Recently, we have witnessed a terrible provocation against the nations by religious Jews through the incitement against the Mayor of New York City," Rabbi Teitelbaum said.
Citing the Prophet Jeremiah’s instruction to the Jewish people to seek the welfare of the city where they live and pray for it, the Grand Rebbe stressed the obligation of observant Jews to follow the Torah’s guidance while living in exile.
“We must remember that we are in exile," he said. “The Prophet Jeremiah instructed the Jewish people: ‘Seek the peace of the city to which I have exiled you, and pray to Hashem on its behalf.’"
Rabbi Teitelbaum specifically criticized efforts to denounce Mamdani and accuse him of antisemitism.
“To denounce the mayor and brand him an antisemite constitutes a true provocation against the nations," he said, adding that what he described as provocation against the nations in the Land of Israel (ie, the Arabs) was now being brought to the US.
The Grand Rebbe concluded by calling on Jewish families to protect their homes from publications and messages influenced by Zionist ideology.